First I must say that as a user of *every* Fed distro I have never got NVidia drivers to work at all and have always just roughed it with the generic VGA ones. Now I am on FC8 and have been doing the same, since I downloaded them from the nvidia site and pretty much got the same results I'm used to so again gave up. However, KDE4 does look cool ;-) So I have an extra incentive to try again.

The installation is 2.6.21-2952.fc8xen, its been upgraded from an FC7 installation and has had a few "yum updates" done since then. The graphics card is NVidia GeForce FX 5200. I downloaded the driver (169.07) from nvidia.com, did an init 3 then ran it. I was told there was already a driver present(1.0-6106) which was news to me as KDE couldn't see it nor go to any higher res than 640x480. Anyway, I agreed to the new install, was told there was no precompiled kernel, then told there wasn;t one on the nvidia ftp site then it bombed out with a message about more files mismatching.

This is a bog standard FC8 installation. Shouldn't I just be able to "yum {something}" to get these in? Thanks.

Hi.
First off, while our friends over at nvidia are kind enough to create linux drivers for us, I've used them and have not been impressed. A lot of the same issues you are having.

Here is the way to do it with great success. (and also play mp3 while you're at it)

Read this link (it's the sticky on the top of this forum)
https://www.redhat.com/archives/fedo.../msg01178.html

Then go here http://rpm.livna.org/rlowiki/ and install the livna repository. After installing the repository, click here http://rpm.livna.org/rlowiki/LivnaSwitcher to read why you're doing it this way (incase the first link didn't convince you) then follow the instructions to install the appropriate driver. This should always be step 2 after a fresh install of any fedora dist in my opinion.

For mp3 (after livna is installed) for gnome type: # yum install gstreamer-plugins-ugly KDE: # yum install k3b-extras-nonfree kdemultimedia-extras-nonfree


Hope all that helps.

HI,
When installing drivers have you installed linux-headers for your kernel?
Also the FX5200 Card is an old card and probably requires the "legacy" drivers from NVIDIA's website.

Whats happening after that? error messages etc.....

PS The reason it bombs out is because it can't compile the module (because it requires the linux-headers)
----

To install on debain i do:
apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.07.pkg1.run

THEN I grep the /etc/X11/xorg.conf to check the nvidia module is listed under the driver section for Xorg eg.
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep nvidia

Hope that helps
--cAm

[root@tiger ~]# yum install kmod-nvidia-legacy
Loading "priorities" plugin
125 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kmod-nvidia-legacy.i686 0:71.86.01-18.lvn8 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: kmod-nvidia-legacy-2.6.23.9-85.fc8 = 71.86.01-18.lvn8 for package: kmod-nvidia-legacy
--> Running transaction check
---> Package kmod-nvidia-legacy-2.6.23.9-85.fc8.i686 0:71.86.01-18.lvn8 set to be updated
--> Processing Dependency: nvidia-legacy-kmod-common >= 71.86.01 for package: kmod-nvidia-legacy-2.6.23.9-85.fc8
--> Running transaction check
---> Package xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-legacy.i386 0:71.86.01-4.lvn8.1 set to be updated
--> Processing Conflict: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia conflicts xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-legacy
--> Processing Conflict: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-legacy conflicts xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
Error: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia conflicts with xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-legacy
Error: xorg-x11-drv-nvidia-legacy conflicts with xorg-x11-drv-nvidia
[root@tiger ~]#

Right well thats nice .......
What happens when you go:
yum install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Let that complete then

run the Linux Driver Binary from the Nvidia website by typing:
sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-169.07.pkg1.run

THEN grep the /etc/X11/xorg.conf to check the nvidia module is listed under the driver section for Xorg eg.
cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep nvidia

Thanks for the reply, but ...

[root@tiger ~]# yum install linux-headers-$(uname -r)
Loading "priorities" plugin
adobe 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
livna 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB 00:00
fedora 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB 00:00
kde-redhat-all 100% |=========================| 951 B 00:00
kde-redhat 100% |=========================| 1.1 kB 00:00
updates 100% |=========================| 2.3 kB 00:00
freshrpms 100% |=========================| 2.1 kB 00:00
125 packages excluded due to repository priority protections
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
No package linux-headers-2.6.21-2952.fc8xen available.
Nothing to do
[root@tiger ~]#

nvidia-installer log file '/var/log/nvidia-installer.log'
creation time: Tue Jan 15 21:52:51 2008

option status:
license pre-accepted : false
update : false
force update : false
expert : false
uninstall : false
driver info : false
precompiled interfaces : true
no ncurses color : false
query latest version : false
OpenGL header files : true
no questions : false
silent : false
no recursion : false
no backup : false
kernel module only : false
sanity : false
add this kernel : false
no runlevel check : false
no network : false
no ABI note : false
no RPMs : false
no kernel module : false
force SELinux : default
no X server check : false
force tls : (not specified)
X install prefix : (not specified)
X library install path : (not specified)
X module install path : (not specified)
OpenGL install prefix : (not specified)
OpenGL install libdir : (not specified)
utility install prefix : (not specified)
utility install libdir : (not specified)
doc install prefix : (not specified)
kernel name : (not specified)
kernel include path : (not specified)
kernel source path : (not specified)
kernel output path : (not specified)
kernel install path : (not specified)
proc mount point : /proc
ui : (not specified)
tmpdir : /tmp
ftp mirror : ftp://download.nvidia.com
RPM file list : (not specified)

Using: nvidia-installer ncurses user interface
-> License accepted.
-> There appears to already be a driver installed on your system (version: 1.0-
6106). As part of installing this driver (version: 169.07), the existing dr
iver will be uninstalled. Are you sure you want to continue? ('no' will abo
rt installation) (Answer: Yes)
-> No precompiled kernel interface was found to match your kernel; would you li
ke the installer to attempt to download a kernel interface for your kernel f
rom the NVIDIA ftp site (ftp://download.nvidia.com)? (Answer: Yes)
-> No matching precompiled kernel interface was found on the NVIDIA ftp site;
this means that the installer will need to compile a kernel interface for
your kernel.
-> Performing CC sanity check with CC="cc".
-> Performing CC version check with CC="cc".
-> Kernel source path: '/lib/modules/2.6.21-2952.fc8xen/source'
-> Kernel output path: '/lib/modules/2.6.21-2952.fc8xen/build'
ERROR: If you are using a Linux 2.4 kernel, please make sure
you either have configured kernel sources matching your
kernel or the correct set of kernel headers installed
on your system.

If you are using a Linux 2.6 kernel, please make sure
you have configured kernel sources matching your kernel
installed on your system. If you specified a separate
output directory using either the "KBUILD_OUTPUT" or
the "O" KBUILD parameter, make sure to specify this
directory with the SYSOUT environment variable or with
the equivalent nvidia-installer command line option.

Depending on where and how the kernel sources (or the
kernel headers) were installed, you may need to specify
their location with the SYSSRC environment variable or
the equivalent nvidia-installer command line option.
ERROR: Installation has failed. Please see the file
'/var/log/nvidia-installer.log' for details. You may find suggestions
on fixing installation problems in the README available on the Linux
driver download page at www.nvidia.com.

So it seems I've been given advice to either use the nvidia drivers direct from their site or use yum with livna right? And both fail. Is there something else I should be doing please?

Sigh.
Exactly the same as every earlier release. Well, thanks for trying guys but I'll have to stick with the VGA 640x480 I'm used to and we'll do it all again when Fed 9 is out.